Managing the aging nursing workforce in Canada

2015 
The nursing workforce is aging rapidly, with more than 50% of the nurses eligible to retire in the next decade (Canadian Institute of Health Information, 2013). Given the aging population, Canadian nurses may not be able to support increased healthcare utilization by this older population. Since a majority of the regulated nurses in Canada are unionized, some of the strategies recommended to cope with a potential nursing shortage in the literature may not apply to unionized Canadian nurses, making collective agreements a potential source to design practices that can be used to mitigate the impact of aging on nurses' ability to work as they approach retirement age. Nine major collective agreements for registered nurses in each province governing the nursing employment relationship were analyzed to see if different practices were already addressed in collective agreements. If collective agreements are silent in any of the strategies identified in the literature, it means that healthcare organizations can adopt these practices without violating collective agreements, and may represent an opportunity for management. Five such practices were identified including providing more mentorship opportunities, encouraging nurses that are able to retire to remain in the nursing workforce, attracting internationally trained registered nurses, operational changes which may include process improvements or new technologies, as well as empowering nurses through flexibility in work schedules.
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